St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-25

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millions of dollars have been expended
in spanning the rivers and traverSlng
the prairieS between this city and the
Pacific. 1t has been a year of great
work, especially with those roads that
are driving through the wilderness:
still all the work has not been
confined solely to them. Those
lines that run to that inland ocean,
Lake Superior. and to the east, south
and southeast have also been heightened
and millions of money have also been
expended in these directions. The Pa
cific coast cannot boast of being the
ONLY attraction for the business of st.
Paul. The East and South have placed
business temptation il our way, and the
railroads, who are always quick to see
an advantage and ever ready TO graSpIt,
have quickly responded by extending
their lines that were then built, and
constructing new ones where they had
none, in order to take possession of the
business thus seeking the rapidly grow
ing and commanding city of st. Paul.
There are some who have expressed the
belief that railroad building, especially
in the Northwest, has been
enormously OverdOne within the last
few years, and especially during. the
year Just closing. To those who have
of the country is more fixed and settled,
such rapid construction of railroads is
surprise, and they do not seem to be
able to comprehend that it is possible
that there should be business enough in
these uninhabited regions to
WARRANT THE EXPENDITURES
of so much money. They do not COM
prehend that st. Paul has such an i'm
mense empire tributary to her as she
has, or that the railroads themselves in
crease and multiply the sources OF trade.
The feat of one single road running out
of st. Paul furnishes in this respect an
instance of railroad building that, under
the circumstances, has never been
April last the Manitoba road
began at Minot, OAK, the con-
struction of an extension of its line to
Great Falls, Mont, a distance of $50
miles. Throughout the month of April,
and even most of the following 5mOnth,
the ground was frozen so hard that it
was necessary to use the pick to remove
the soil. On the way across the prairie
swampS had to be filed, the rOadbed
built entirely new, and the whole work
was delayed by frequent rains, yet this
great work of completing the road from
MinOt to Great Falls was completed III
few days over six months, and from
there to Helena, Mont, a distance of
thirty days. Thus, inside of eight
months, 64S miles of road were con-
structed from MinOt, Oak, to Helena,
Mont, and regular trains were running
over the road. Nearly all the
rails were imported from Germany,
seven steamers being continually ell
gagged in the work of bringing over the
rails, most of which were manufactured
after the construction of the road was
commenced. Some idea of the magni-
tude of the cost of the work can be OBJ
tanned from the fact that the Manitoba
road paid to the government, at the Gus
tom house in st. Paul, over Sl50,000 iOr
duties on the rails used in the cOnstruc-
ton of the road. Nearly all this mate
rial was transported over the Manitoba
road and the whole road was built from
the east to the west. The same road
will build from Helena to Butte soon.
The extension of this road opens new
and fresh part of the territories of Da-
kota and Montana and runs
gion that is suitable for stock
raising. and from which cattle will be
shipped in immense numbers to the
stock yards in st. Paul and Chicago.
Along the whole line towns will grow
up, each one of which will have bust
ness in this city. In Great Falls is
town of
IMMENSE POSSIBILITIES.
The water power there has only just
begun to be developed, yet it now fur
niSheS over half million horse power.
The town will undoubtedly come to be a
great manufacturing center. All around
it is a great Stock-raiSing country, with an
abundance of timber. coal, granite quar-
rieS, a good mining district and a great
variety of ores. The Manitoba has also
constructed its line from WatertOwn to
Benson 81 miles, from Park River to
LangdOn 40 miles, from BOttineau to
Rugby SO miles, from Rutland junction
to Glendale 40 miles, from Tintah to
Evansville IS miles. from MOOrhead to
WahpetOn AZ miles, from WatertOwn to
Huron. This makes total of GAG miles
of road constructed this year. In addi-
ton to this, the Manitoba has graded so
miles, from WatertOwn to Huron, and
10 miles from Willmar to Sioux Falls.
This constitutes great years work for
one road.
The Chicago, st. Paul & Kansas City
line. formerly the Minnesota q North
western, is comparatively a new road
here, but it has been a very active one
and has caused some of the older roads
a good deal of annoyance by cutting the
rates and generally worrying them in
various ways. 1t has built 167 miles
from Chicago to Dubuque, including a
tunnel half a mile long, ten miles south
of Galena, Ill. This is the longest tun-
mel in the state of Illinois. 1t has also
built twenty-seven miles from Oelwein
to Waterloo, 10. This made the con-
nectiOn between the Chicago, st. Paul,
& Kansas City road and the old Mime
sofa & Northwestern. From Des MoineS,
To-. to St. 10. Mo-, it has built 159 miles.
This part of the road though will not be
in operation before July l, 1888. because
it will have to be ballaSted. This gives
a total of 353 miles constructed. Besides
this the road has expended 100000 at
South Park in shops and new machin-
cry, so that these shops are considered
by experts to be the most complete and
best arranged of any shops west of
Pittsburg, with the exception of the
Pullman shops. The road has also eX-
pended $500 in East Minneapolis in
large storage yards and terminals. Be
sides these expenditures, large amounts
of money have been expended at Chi
cagO, Staten Island and at the st. Paul
stock yards in completing the general
arrangements for Strengthening cattle
ana nOgS at 81. raul ana chicago and
shipping the products to Europe. 1t has
been a very active year for the old Min
nesota q Northwestern.
The st. Paul & Duluth road has also
been doing something all the year to in
crease its facilities for doing business,
and next year will put in a double track
from st. Paul to White Bear. During
this year it has built seventeen miles of
road, from the Northern Pacific juno
ton to East Superior, which cost $780,
600. 1t has also been at work all the
summer months reducing grades all
along the line. 1t is probable that in
this work not less than twelve miles Of
the track has been changed. About